1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print data processing apparatus, a print control method, a computer-readable print control program, and a storage medium containing the print control program, which are used to perform printing processes in response to image-forming commands from an application.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional print processing (specifically, printer driver processing) in a print data processing system, concerning the selection of print modes for use in printing in a case in which a printer has a plurality of print conditions (print modes), for example, a printer description language (PDL) mode and an image mode, an apparatus that has a function of automatically selecting a print mode for use in printing has been proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-129583. Other print conditions, such as color gradation and resolution, are designated by a user, or are fixed for processing.
A printer driver having such a function of automatically selecting a print mode has an advantage in that print settings, which are complicated to the user, do not need to be determined. However, a user who is discontent with the time and result of printing executed by the print settings determined by the automatically selecting function operates or selects the print mode.
In order that the user may operate and set a print condition (print mode), the user must understand combinations of the characteristics of documents to be printed and optimal print conditions (print modes) thereto. Thus, in general, ordinary users who are not interested in print processing must use the automatically selecting function which frees them from complicated operations, even if they are discontent with print conditions determined by the automatically selecting function. Accordingly, a problem occurs in that the automatically selecting function cannot cope with a user's intention for each time. In addition, known automatic determination of print modes by a printer driver does not reflect the characteristic of each application. Depending on the type of application, even applications belonging to a series have different characteristics. For example, even drawing (figure drawing) applications include an application adapted for the PDL mode and an application adapted for the image mode, depending on the output form of an image-forming function to the graphics engine of an operating system (OS). This causes a problem in that the conventional print-mode automatic-selecting function cannot cope with an application in use.